HobbsDailyReport.com
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Alex Kowalczyk drove in three runs and Christian Torres and two other pitchers combined to check Columbia, S.C. on three hits as Hickory won 5-0 on the road on Thursday night in South Atlantic League (SAL) baseball.
KOWALCZYK
Kowalczyk doubled in a run in the first inning and singled in one in the fifth and ninth innings to lead the Crawdads (54-63, 27-20) to a victory that keeps them tied for first place in the SAL’s Northern Division with Hagerstown (Md.).
Hagerstown beat West Virginia 3-1 on Thursday night to improve to 26-19 in the second half and remain tied with Hickory. West Virginia is in third place.
Game 2 of the Crawdads at Fireflies series is Friday at 7:05 p.m. in Columbia, S.C.
In the series opener, Torres (3-2) went six innings for the Crawdads. He allowed one hit and struck out three, with Jario Beras giving up one hit in two innings and Sal Mendez pitching the ninth and give up one hit.
Andres Gimenez, Luis Carpio and Brandon Bosher each had one hit for the Fireflies (59-55, 19-27, last place in the Southern Division).
Kowalczyk had three hits for the Crawdads, Leody Taveras went 2-for-3 and walked twice, Andretty Coredro had two hits and Blaine Prescott and Charles Leblanc each drove in a run for Hickory.
The scoring opened in the third inning when Kowalczyk doubled to score Taveras, who had walked.
In the fifth inning, Eric Jenkins singled and stole second base. The two runs scored on a single by Prescott and single by Kowalczyk to make it 3-0.
Cordero singled in the seventh inning and Leblanc had a run-scoring hit, and Taveras, Cordero and Kowalczyk had back-to-back-to-back singles for a run in the ninth inning.
Hickory went 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position while the Fireflies were 0-for-4.
The Crawdads sent Colin Holderman (1-3) to a loss. He pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up five hits, three runs (all earned), walking three and striking out two.
For Thursday’s boxscore, click on the link below.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2017_08_10_hicafx_colafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb&sid=t448